Lancaster Rare Rooster Summer Rye Ale

Brewed by Lancaster Brewing Co.
Style: Specialty Grain
Lancaster, Pennsylvania USA

20090722 12oz bottle from State Line. Clouded orange golden color with quick beige head that laces as it fades. Aroma is, ah crap, diacetyl mess. Disgusting. I was about to dump it but then figured I might as well at least taste it. Yuck. Butter and lemon with some corriander? Body is medium heft and slick. Lingering acidity. Pretty terrible stuff.

Bottle. Poured a sunburst amber with a decent off white head, quite picture perfect. Aroma and flavor were both of light caramel, slight fig and raisin, citric crispiness, then that standard rye bite along with the carbonation. It had a nice if somewhat light body and creamy carbonation.

12 oz. Clear copper with a lasting quarter inch of creamy bubbles. Nice sticky lace. Earthy spiced apple and caramel on the nose. Flavor is similar with some peppery rye notes and a woody finish. Light-medium body is smoothly carbonated and just barely dry enough. A tad sweet but still a nice beer.

Failed attempt at a rye ale, IMO, yeah. I’ve been lapping up rye beers like it’s my profession recently, and this just didn’t, even, come, close. DIG IT.

Draft at Buckleys in Greenville. Gold amber color with white average head. Aroma of rye and malt. Some lemony hops and rye in the taste. ok overall, liked it better than some of the ratings below.

12 oz bottle. This one really is kind of odd. The aroma is very different to what I might expect with a prominent butterscotch candy in the forefront. Also, with some wheat and cereal grains and some honey. There wasn’t much more than a light, fizzing bubble head that goes away nearly immediately, and a light appearing, slightly hazy body, and a caramel amber color. Slightly watery initially, then it picks up a little bolder flavor for an instant, then back to being slightly watery in the finish. The flavors in this one are kind of jumbled together with nothing really standing out to me. A mixture of grains, though not the exact rye type grain as you would think with the butterscotch aspect also playing strong in the flavor. Some light citrus and some other non-distinct mild fruits, but really not much else. At the end the beer though, I’m really not sure whether I really dislike this beer or not, so I guess all I can really say in the end is that it is really just a rather odd beer.

Location: 12 oz bottle from Gilly’s, 5/29/09

Aroma: A really odd nose on this one, like a bar of soap wrapped in a pound of butter
Appearance: Decent looking orange color with a slight amber hue, thin head that dissipates quickly, some decently lively bubbles
Flavor: Tastes better then it smells, but its hard to get over the nose, a very light rye flavor, a subtle sweetness, not terrible, but not a lot there.
Palate: Light body, some fizz, smooth and drinkable, but underwhelming
Overall Impression: The smell sure doesn’t give a very good first impression. I doubt I’ll run out to try this again...
All in all, it’s not terrible, but you might want to hold your nose!

**Just submitted a photo for this one, as it was missing one.

**Got stuck with this as part of the June 2009 Beer of the Month Club and I actually LOWERED the score, I think I didn’t do this beer justice giving it a 1.9 the first time, this is a more accurate rating.

Doesn’t smell good. Like wheat and a lot of butter. Flavor is a little bit better, but still not good. Some butter, a metallic tinge, ahint of wheat and rye. Not good.